PERSPECTIVES-SOCIOLINGUISTICS & TESOL
In her book, Perspectives-Sociolinguistics and TESOL, Nessa Wolfson (1) defines sociolinguistics as “the study of the interplay of linguistic, social, and cultural factors in human communication.” She is especially concerned with illustrating how Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) can incorporate sociolinguistics into their teaching of English as a second or foreign language. Historically, a common language (means of communication) has not only unified a particular culture, but it is also a means by which other cultures may interact with each other and discover the norms, practices, customs and social dynamics of other peoples. Various changes in the world have made the teaching of English and multiculturalism even more important. Freer trade, the spread of democracy and the emergence of the US as the world leader have all helped the spread of English as the global language. This has made the number of nonnative speakers of the language outnumber native speakers of English. Wolfson (viii) says her main purpose for writing the book is “To provide a critical overview of those aspects of sociolinguistics most relevant to members of the TESOL profession.” This report will discuss some of Wolfson’s main arguments regarding sociolinguistics and TESOL.
The first part of Wolfson’s book focuses on the cross-cultural differences that exist in speech behavior. It also covers the types of problems encountered when trying to analyze sociolinguistic rules among cultures. It also provides an insightful section on the different type of speech behaviors that occur in native English-speaking societies which sheds light on how to detect speech behavior patterns in other cultures. For example, the author unveils her concept of sociolinguistic relativity which means “that each community has its own unique set of conventions, rules, and patterns for the conduct of co...